The Customer Wants You to Check Another Company's Quote: Decision Tree
Why this matters
A customer hands you a competitor's written quote and asks "is this right?" It is a chance to win trust and a trap in the same breath. Answer off the paper without looking at the equipment and you are guessing. Agree too fast and you rubber-stamp a stranger's work. Disagree too fast and you sound like every shop that undercuts to win. This tree is the order of operations from quote-in-hand to an honest answer.
Start here: safety before opinion
If the quote or the customer describes an active hazard - a gas smell, scorched wiring, a cracked heat exchanger or compromised flue, water at an energized part, a failed pool bond - address the hazard before you evaluate anyone's quote. Make it safe, tell the customer plainly, then get to the comparison. A live hazard does not wait for a second opinion.
Separate the three things a quote contains
A quote is diagnosis, scope, and price stacked together, and the customer usually reacts to the price. Pull them apart:
- Diagnosis - what they say is wrong.
- Scope - what they propose to do about it.
- Price - what they charge for that scope.
You can agree with the diagnosis and still disagree with the scope or the price. Judge them in that order; a right diagnosis with a padded scope is a different problem than a wrong diagnosis.
Verify the diagnosis independently
Do not confirm or attack their finding from the paper. Diagnose the equipment yourself - meter on it, pressures read, panel checked, part tested. Only your own reading tells you whether their diagnosis holds. If you cannot verify it on this visit (an intermittent fault, no access), say that plainly rather than siding for or against a claim you did not test.
Match your finding against theirs
- Your diagnosis matches theirs: the first shop was right. Confirm it honestly, even if the customer hoped otherwise. See the tree on the other shop being right.
- Diagnosis right, scope bigger than needed: they may have oversold - replace where a repair would do. Right-size it. See the oversold tree.
- Your diagnosis differs: the first shop may be wrong, or the fault may read differently today. Confirm you are right before you say they are wrong. See the wrong-diagnosis tree.
Guard against being used as a price club
Some customers only want you to beat a number, not to check the work. Answer the technical question honestly and let price stand on its own. If their diagnosis and scope are correct and fair, say so even though it means you are not underbidding a good quote. Winning a job by pretending a sound quote is bad is how you inherit the next customer's distrust.
What the customer is really asking
| They say | They often mean | Give them |
|---|---|---|
| "Is this right?" | "Am I being ripped off?" | Your independent finding, plainly |
| "Can you beat it?" | "I want it cheaper" | Honest scope and price, no false knock |
| "Do I really need all this?" | "Is any of it optional?" | Needed-now vs can-wait split |
Recap
- Safety first if a hazard is present.
- Split the quote into diagnosis, scope, and price.
- Verify the diagnosis with your own meter, not their paper.
- Route to the matching outcome: right, oversold, or wrong.
- Do not knock a sound quote just to win the job.
References
- Trade-standard practice for independent diagnosis and written estimates
- See related: Giving an Honest Second Opinion on Another Shop's Diagnosis; The Other Shop's Diagnosis Is Wrong (decision tree); The First Shop Oversold and the Customer Wants You to Say So (decision tree)